Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 29 that are worth another look.The South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union was due to start a country-wide port strike at 17.30 local time on Wednesday May 29. Although the union claimed the action will bring South Africa's economy "to a standstill," manganese and chrome market sources said it was too early...Read More
German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp is in talks with the chief executive officer of its steel division, Andreas Goss, about his future, following news of the likely failure of its planned European flat steel joint venture with Tata Steel Europe."Since the joint venture with Tata Steel cannot be established, the task now is to make ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe fit for the future. In this context, talks are...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company garnered $3.5 million at the secondtender of diamonds from its Mothae mine in Lesotho, with stones selling for upto $26,000 per carat, it said Wednesday. The miner sold 7,008 carats of rough stones at the Antwerptender, and based on the results, is considering a third sale in the secondquarter. That tender would include a 126-carat diamond the Australia-base...Read More
ArcelorMittal plans further reductions to its steel output in Europe "to further align its production to current market demand," the company said on Wednesday May 29.Earlier this month, ArcelorMittal announced plans to cut output at its steelmaking facilities in Poland, to reduce production in Spain and to adjust shipments from ArcelorMittal Italia, temporarily reducing production by 3 million ton...Read More
RAPAPORT... A Tanzanian small-scale miner has recovered a 512-caratdiamond, the largest ever found in the country, according to a Twitter post by a government official.The stone, which sold for $1.4 million, was found earlierthis month by Joseph Temba in the Shinyanga region, Kitila Mkumbo, permanent secretary at Tanzania's Ministry of Water, wrote on the social-media site last week. Temba so...Read More
Golden Share Resources (TSXV: GSH) has acquired the Basking project in Ontario, Canada.In a press release, the miner said that Basking, which is made up of four small non-contiguous claim blocks totaling 34 single cell mining claims, was acquired through map staking.The project is located near the western edge of the James Bay Lowlands and about100 kilometres north-northwest of the Ring of Fire ni...Read More
RAPAPORT... A selection of jewelry and intellectual property belonging to Nirav Modi's FirestarDiamond and Fantasy businesses will be up for auction at the JCK Las Vegas show. The sale will feature $3.5 million worth of Nirav Modi jewelry, including wedding bands, bracelets and necklaces. Purchasers will also be granted the patents to reproduce thejewelry in the US and other countries,...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe widened downward by ?,?5 ($6) per tonne on Wednesday May 29 amid continuing weak demand, market participants told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Southern Europe was ?,?495-510 ($553-570) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, down slightly from ?,?500-510 per tonne delivered on May 22."Domestically, th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Former Signet Jewelers president Seb Hobbs will serve asinterim managing director of the company's UK business for the next month.Hobbs, who has been with the jewelry retailer for more thaneight years, began his term at Signet in the UK. He was promoted to president in January 2017, and transferred to theUS. He stood down inApril, and will return to the UK to head operations there...Read More
Prices for mesh-quality wire rod in Europe have remained stable over the past week, although market participants expected a gradual price recovery after recent falls, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 29.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price of domestic mesh-quality wire rod in Southern Europe was ?,?500-520 ($559-581) per tonne delivered on May 29, unchanged from May 22, but down from $525...Read More
Junior diamond miner Mountain Province Diamonds published a forward looking report on the prospective Faraday 2 diamond mining project. The report said the future mine holds 5.45 million carats of diamonds contained in 2.07 million tonnes of kimberlite, with an overall grade of 2.63 carats per tonne and an average value of US$140 per carat. This represents a 49% increase in total tonnes and a 74%...Read More
Steel h-beam prices in Northern Europe were assessed stable this week with market activity and feedback limited because of the Ascension Day public holiday in many northwest European countries.The public holiday is on Thursday May 30 but many sales and procurement personnel at companies buying and selling beams have taken extended leave, which has affected trading activity. Fastmarkets' price asse...Read More
In a business where the overwhelming majority of end-consumers are female, women in the diamond sector are remarkably under-represented, not only at the executive and employee levels, but even in terms of the way in which the product traditionally has been marketed. The photo of the model wearing the ring, brooch or necklace is generally a woman, but, more often than not, the message is directed a...Read More
GCal Laboratories will be showcasing $3,5 million worth of Nirav Modi's jewelry retail chain collections. Among the to be auctioned collections of the fugituve, bankrupt diamantaire are platinum and 18-karat gold collection suites such as Embrace, Luminance, Mughal, Lotus, Celestial and Jasmine. The Embrace Collection (expandable) includes bracelets, wedding bands, and necklaces. In th...Read More
Canadian miner Lucara Diamond Corp has recovered a 1 758 ct uncut diamond – the world’s second-largest – from its wholly owned Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana. The unbroken stone, one of the largest diamonds in recorded history, the largest diamond recovered in Botswana, and the largest diamond to be mined at Karowe to date, was recovered through Lucara’s state-of-the-art...Read More
RAPAPORT... Profit at Asian Star, a Mumbai-based diamond manufacturer, grew 6% to INR 1.16 billion ($16.7 million) in thepast fiscal year, as lowerexpenses compensated for a decline in sales.Revenue, including at subsidiaries, dropped7% to INR 39.13 billion ($524.6 million) for the 12 months ending March 31, thecompany said last week. Expenses fell by the same percentage to INR 35.06billion (...Read More
The Gujarati newspapers Gujarat Mitra and Gujarat Darpan both published news items reporting that the Mumbai Cargo Customs authorities had stopped a shipment of rough diamonds of one India's leading diamond manufacturer that was suspected to be undervalued. The Mumbai Cargo Customs authorities investigated the shipment to assess its value.According to the articles published on May 25th, initi...Read More
Alrosa held a rough diamond tender earlier this week at the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) in Ramat Gan. The sale resulted in a revenue of $10.2 million. The company sold 120 stones at a total weight of 1,940 carats, including two large diamonds weighing more than 50 carats each. Firms from Belgium, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, the UAE and the USA were among the tender participants. The tende...Read More
GGTL Laboratories Liechtenstein announced it has launched a the first real diamond fingerprint report in the market. GGTL Director Thomas Hainschwang explained that the report is the result of 23 years of experience in diamond/fancy color diamond testing combined with the development of unique diamond testing equipment at the laboratory. This service which has been develop...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices made a downward correction on increased supply after the recent buying spree by the country's steel mills, sources said on Wednesday May 29.A steel producer booked a Baltic Sea cargo late on May 28, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $306 per tonne and 1,000 tonnes of bonus at $316 per tonne cfr.As a result of this transaction, the daily scrap indic...Read More